I moaned contently as I sipped my coffee, drawing the contempt of my companions. We looked like a group of teens on a school trip; Erik and Amelia were enjoying sandwiches, sitting awkwardly away from each other. I don’t blame her though, Erik has a lot to make up for. But I frequently found myself asking him if he’s doing okay. I knew he hated me fawning over him, but I couldn't help myself.

Tadashi was sitting at a separate table, sipping on tea, waiting for Ethan to return from the deli counter with their food. When I looked over, Ethan had his face pressed against the glass of the deli, harassing the girl behind the counter about cheeses.

Dyson was standing outside under striped blue and white awning, smoking one of his joints and enjoying his music. Despite his standoffish demeanor, he'd been smiling more. It made me happy that he was trying to fit in and not remain an outsider.

It was nice feeling like normal young adults for once, leaving behind the exploding boats and zombie pirates. I hadn't really known much else though; both of my parents had been part of the Order for a long time. They stepped away from the field work when they decided to have my sister, but you never really stop working for the Order. Even though my Mom was adamant that she would come back to field work, if it weren't for my Dad stopping her. They were a funny pair; my Mom was from Egypt and had a wild temperament, and my Dad had roots back in Jamaica, and was more studious. I had ended up a little bit of both in many regards.

“So,” I finished my coffee and look at Erik. “We’ve completed our task. The Queen Anne’s Revenge is gone and the Rabbi’s Golem with it; Anders would be proud. Now can we explore?” I practically begged. Exploring ancient ruins and finding long lost Artifacts was my favorite part of this job. It made me feel like Indiana Jones. Erik looked none too pleased.

“I don’t think that’s a good idea Orion. We should just pile into the sleigh and head home.” He told me. Amelia reluctantly nodded her agreement, but she refused to look at Erik.

“No way man! Can you imagine the Artifacts we could find here? Plus, we are completely out of ambrosia. What if there is an Order cache around here?.” I tried to keep my voice down, but my voice just naturally drew the attention of civilians.

“Keep your voice down.” Amelia snapped, uncharacteristically. I stared at her, frowning.

“Anders specifically said not to do that.” Erik chimed in, suddenly the shining example of the rules again.

“Why don’t we put it to a vote then?” I said, sighing heavily.

Erik and I shared a look. I could tell he thought I was challenging his leadership again, but he seemed confident enough that the others would follow his lead in this.

“Put what to a vote?” Ethan asked, coming back with a sandwich the size of his head. Most of it was pickles and cheese. Gross.

“I say we should go exploring and look for Artifacts. Erik and your sister think we should head home.” I explained. I knew damn well whose side Ethan would take, and I get my usual shit-eating grin and turn back to Erik.

“I’m totally down for exploring!” He said, plopping down next to Tadashi with all the grace of a hippo. The table and chairs rattled, and with perfect grace and timing, Tadashi swept up his teacup and saucer before they could clatter to the ground. He glared daggers at Ethan, who turned bright red and shrugged innocently.

I looked at Tadashi for his vote and he sighed heavily.

"I believe it is unwise to go looking for trouble, but Orion is right. This is a good opportunity." He said, before returning to his tea. Erik looked at him like he had just slapped him in the face, and he shrugged.

“If Dyson agrees with me, it’s a tie.” Erik pointed out.

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“You know what, if it’s a tie, we’ll go home.” I conceded. I was certain that with Dyson’s newly discovered sense of adventure, he’d totally be on my side.

Erik and I both looked behind us to Dyson standing outside, and then back at each other. Simultaneously, we both bolted for the door, slipping past bystanders and getting shouted at in Greek.

Dyson’s eyes went wide as he turned around and we were both barreling towards him. He took a step back in shock and stepped onto the street. Erik and I both shouted out to him, but he couldn't hear us with his damn headphones on. Up he went, getting hit by a fast moving car, and he came back down in a heap on the sidewalk. The driver didn’t even stop, rather, they sped up and took off.

“Oh my Gods!” I ran over to the poor guy’s side and slowly rolled him over.

“I’m good. It’s fine.” He said, looking around wildly. Both his knees were broken, so Erik got to work setting his bones back into place the best he could. The others came running up behind us. Even some of the store patrons came out to see what happened.

“I don’t have any ambrosia, so this is really going to hurt.” Erik warned him. All I could think about was how much Dyson would probably wanna go home now. I cursed under my breath. That's when I noticed we were drawing way to much attention to ourselves. The girl behind the counter was on the phone, probably with emergency services, which would lead to a police check, and none of us had passports or I.D. on us.

“Erik, we can’t stay. We’re gonna get in trouble.” I whispered, looking around in a panic. That was when our little saving grace hit me in the form of a delicately folded paper. I grabbed a brochure for the Parthenon and nudged Erik as he finished setting Dyson’s legs. I looked back at the others and motioned to the paper.

“Field trip?” I said, desperately trying to bring humor to the situation. Erik sighed.

“I’m sorry about this.” He said to Dyson, who was still recovering from shock, only to be picked up and thrown over Erik’s shoulder like a sack of potatoes.

“Oh sure, this’ll be fun.” Dyson grunted in pain.

Erik nodded for me to lead the way and we took off down the first alleyway we could find. People were shouting behind us, I guess, trying to get us to stay and wait for an ambulance or something but none of us spoke Greek, so it’s hard to tell. I wished we had brought Kalysta.

I started reading the map directing us from the café to the site of the Parthenon, but I kept getting distracted by the excerpts of interesting facts.

“Hey guys, did you know that the Parthenon has been used for a bunch of different things over the years. After being a temple, the Greeks also used it as a treasury. The Ottoman Empire used it as an ammunitions dump and barracks and it was once used as a Church of the Virgin Mary.” I piped up while running as fast as I could.

“Orion, focus!” Amelia shouted at me. I frowned and almost snapped back at her, but I could hear sirens in the distance and hustled a little faster.

“This way!” I ushered them through a small crack between two houses that would bring us onto one of the main roads. That’s when I saw the strangest thing; a fox with three tails sat elegantly at the other side of the crack, as if it was waiting for us. When we emerged from the other side it started trotting down a side path, off the road, turning to make sure we were following. I hesitated, but Tadashi cut ahead of me and took off after the fox and the others followed him. So much for my map. I chucked the brochure and followed the others as we ran after what I assumed was mutated wildlife.

Weaving in and out of laundry hanging to dry, we bolted through backyards and over fences. I was sure we’d broken more than a few laws by now, especially since neither the driver nor the victim of our hit and run decided to stick around. Dyson had taken to crossing his arms and laying like a miserable lump over Erik’s shoulder. He looked none too amused, but I couldn't help but chuckle to myself.

The three-tailed fox led us into a tunnel, that looked like it could bring us either to a sewer system or a crypt, and we all stopped at the iron grate as it slipped through and sat on the other side. It looked at us as if to say ‘Well, come on now. Open it.’

Tadashi summoned his red katana, the angry one that cuts through anything, and made a way for us. The fox immediately returned to running, with Tadashi close behind.

"Do we know it's safe to be following this thing?" I panted.

"Kitsune are guardian spirits. They can be tricksters, but I'm certain this one is trying to help." Tadashi said. It seemed like running wasn't taxing his stamina at all, and I regretted being such a slouch in my training.

We followed the fox guardian thing deeper into the tunnel, with it waiting for us at any major intersections where we would have to turn. Getting a decent look around, I realized we were in an aqueduct system that must have been left unused for centuries. Some passageways had collapsed in from disrepair, but this fox seemed to know where we were heading. I hoped that it would pop us out right where we needed to be, but I was thankful that we were at least away from the public eye. This trip was already going to be a nightmare for Anders and the rest of the Order to cover up. We hadn't exactly been subtle about anything since we got here.